Crater High School was placed on secure status and will have an enhanced Central Point police presence going forward after school officials confiscated a “small firearm” on campus.

A 16-year-old Crater student was found to be in possession of a “small-caliber firearm” Tuesday, according to a release issued by Central Point police and corroborated by a release from Central Point School District.

Students alerted a Crater staff member to a potential weapon on campus Tuesday morning, according to a “Response Summary” issued Tuesday afternoon by district Superintendent Walt Davenport.

“Staff immediately reported this to law enforcement and within minutes, our School Resource Officers and school administration identified and secured the weapon which was a small firearm,” Davenport said.

The release states that students and staff “were not directly threatened and that the issue was resolved quickly.”

After the firearm was confiscated, the campus was put on “precautionary secure status,” in which students were brought inside and kept in their classrooms behind locked doors while police and school security staff investigated further.

Central Point police worked with the Jackson County Threat Assessment team to conduct a “thorough investigation,” the police release stated. Police emphasized that no direct threats were ever made.

“It is important to note that at no point were any direct threats made toward the school, students or staff,” the Central Point police release stated. “However, out of an abundance of caution, appropriate safety measures were implemented to ensure the wellbeing of everyone on campus.”

The student was ultimately lodged at the Jackson County Juvenile Detention facility.

The Threat Assessment team is a collaboration among Jackson County Community Justice, local schools and other resources designed to “pinpoint people and situations that could increase the risk of a school violence event,” according to a video about the program posted on the county website. 

The county program models itself on a training system assessing student threats in the Salem-Keizer School District, according to the video.

By Tuesday afternoon, after consulting with Central Point police, school officials determined that there were no additional safety concerns and the school lifted the precautionary secure status and resumed classes.

According to an email from Davenport to the Rogue Valley Times, the secure status is different from a lockdown protocol. Secure status follows the directive of “Get inside, lock outside doors” and is a protocol intended to safeguard people within an entire building.

Lockdown follows the protocol of “Locks, lights, out-of-sight” and is a protocol used to secure individual rooms. In a lockdown protocol, occupants are kept quiet and in-place.

The district’s release describes the weapon being brought to campus as an “inexcusable act,” but did not share details around any student or students involved pending “an ongoing investigation with the Central Point Police Department.”

“It is our responsibility to respect the process of the investigation and student confidentiality,” Davenport wrote in the release. “The District will be addressing this serious incident in accordance with our Weapons in the Schools policy.”

According to the Crater High School 2024-25 student handbook, bringing, possessing, concealing or using a weapon on school property is conduct that makes the student liable for discipline that could include expulsion.

The handbook further states that the district “may not provide alternative education programs for students expelled for violating applicable state or federal weapons laws.”

Crater High School is further preparing an increased police presence and resources from the Threat Assessment team to support student and staff’s mental and physical well-being, according to Davenport.